Carroll sentenced to four and a half years of jail time

| Senior Editor

Justin Carroll, former Washington University dean of students, received a sentence of 54 months in federal prison, for viewing child pornography, earlier today.

The sentence concludes a process that began Dec. 20 when federal investigators opened a case against Carroll, and Washington University banned him from campus. Carroll officially retired from the University Feb. 1.

Initially, Carroll pled not guilty to the charges of child pornography in February of this year, before reversing to a guilty plea in early July. Carroll admitted to viewing, both at his Washington University office and his own home, at least 15 videos and over 600 images of children engaged in pornographic acts, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Carroll apologized for his actions at the sentencing, saying that he was not a pedophile and that he had been sexually assaulted in his childhood, according to the Post-Dispatch.

“I was spiraling down and seeking solace in the worst possible places and with the worst possible people,” Carroll wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel.

In addition to the 54 month sentence, which was requested to be served as close to St. Louis as possible, Carroll was issued a $25,000 fine.

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